Accounting Practice Insights - Our Blog

Our Blog is a collection of lessons, insights and observations borrowed from our books, work, life and ongoing client experiences. It all started simply enough…from a hand-written notebook of insights and observations from successful deals, thriving practices, ambitious owners, optimistic sellers and eager buyers.

Building a Cloud-Based Accounting Firm (podcast)

Ryan Lazanis

Recently, Brannon had an exciting conversation with Ryan Lazanis. Ryan is a CPA who considers himself more of an entrepreneur than an accountant. In 2013 he founded a fully cloud-based accounting firm which was acquired five years later with the help of the Poe Group team. Now Ryan is focusing on his passion to help modernize the traditional accounting firm model and foster innovation in the profession. To learn more, check out his website and blog, futurefirm.co and also subscribe to his weekly newsletter to get the top five things affecting the future of your firm here: https://newsletter.futurefirm.co/.

Ryan shares on this podcast how he started his completely cloud-based firm and how there was originally a good deal of push back from other CPAs. He had a revolutionary vision to create not just good client service, but to create an incredible client experience. He also wanted a fun workplace for himself and his workforce that allowed for flexibility and required less of the aspects of the accounting business that he found mundane. Ryan succeeded.

Listen to hear how Ryan built a disruptive and scalable business model that drew in both clients and accountants ready for a firm built on the modern mindset of value pricing. Ryan’s biggest word to the wise is, “You don’t have to follow the path most CPAs have taken.”

Ryan has some interesting insight into where he believes the market is heading and why the consumer will be demanding it. He also shares with our listeners some tips on how to change a traditional firm into a more modern one, and some of the mistakes he made when he first started his cloud-based company.

You will also hear a little bit about why the market is reluctant for the kind of change he is creating and how blockchain technology may impact accounting.

Please click the link below to listen in on Brannon and Ryan’s conversation and do not hesitate to check out Ryan’s book recommendation!

(If you would like to listen to previous podcasts please visit our resources page.)

Notable moments:

0:45- Ryan’s Background

4:56- About Ryan’s unique cloud-based firm

5:45- Ryan’s big learning moments when starting his own practice

8:31- What inspired Ryan to start his firm and leave traditional accounting

12:50- Advice on starting a new, modern practice from scratch

15:20- The reason traditional practices are reluctant to change

18:50- How to begin making changes within a traditional firm

21:40- How the blockchain is like accounting and how it may have an impact